Ceremonies honor ultimate sacrifice

Tuesday

Nov 13, 2012 at 12:01 AM

STOCKTON - It was so quiet in Stockton Memorial Civic Auditorium plaza on Monday morning that one could hear the scratching of chalk as Robert Houtz etched the name of a local fallen soldier onto the concrete.

Keith Reid

STOCKTON - It was so quiet in Stockton Memorial Civic Auditorium plaza on Monday morning that one could hear the scratching of chalk as Robert Houtz etched the name of a local fallen soldier onto the concrete.

Charles Palmer II, Age: 36, Manteca.

Palmer is one of 477 soldiers from California whose names Houtz was helping to write out Monday, along with a very small group from Occupy Stockton members and Iraq Veterans Against the War.

On most Mondays, the bustle of people walking by on cellphones and noise from parking cars would fill the air. Monday's holiday made the chalkers' efforts go mostly unnoticed.

Houtz and his three partners who were writing the names would have liked for more people to see them at work. From their perspective, people don't fully understand the loss of life that occurs during a war.

"We're telling the real story here. This is what people don't see. They see the sugarcoated aspects of war" said Houtz, 52, who served in the Army in the 1980s. "When our young men and women go into the military, they have no idea what they're getting themselves into. No idea."

Iraq Veterans Against the War spokeswoman Lisa Ling said the chalking effort was as an extension of San Francisco's Fleet Week, a military-themed event where the public is treated to air shows, a parade of ships and other spectacles.

"The public sees the pomp and circumstance of those events. But this is what really goes on. Soldiers give their lives," Ling said.

Stockton police could issue citations to citizens for chalking the sidewalks. However, officers checked in on the group at the auditorium Monday morning and as long as things stayed peaceful, there would be no action.

Right beneath a memorial "Dedicated to the Veterans of America," the group wrote the name of Robbie Mariano, and in honor of the Stockton Police Department. Mariano, who was killed in Iraq in 2006, is the son of Bob Mariano, a police sergeant.